


Not Broken Just Bent

by Samnyeong



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: I always make the summary more angsty than it should be..., M/M, Suspense, Wonhao, but don't cross him he's in a gang for a reason, chansol, christmas special of sorts, dino has financial issues, hoshi needs anger management, jun has selective mutism, jungyu, kind of, or at least that's the plan, performance unit-centric, pretty slow relationship development for most ships, sooncheol(?), street gang!perf unit, the8 is a sickly but sweet child
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-16
Updated: 2017-02-05
Packaged: 2018-09-09 01:19:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8870161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Samnyeong/pseuds/Samnyeong
Summary: They were all broken, but at least they were broken together.In which a notorious four-member street gang is employed as backup dancers for some 'rookie star idol group'.





	1. The Start of a Beautiful Relationship... Not.

**Author's Note:**

> Title was inspired by P!nk's song "Just Give Me A Reason", but other than that, has no relation to the plot.

Even though none of them said anything, Chan knew that they didn't want to be here. Bright lights, extravagant space, flashy costumes... the four's shabby, ripped, dirt-covered clothes definitely seemed less than a suitable fit. He thought he heard something like a snarl rumbling in Junhui's throat, but when Chan lifted his chin to look at the taller boy, nothing but serenity was written over his face, maybe even boredom. It was hard to tell though, since Junhui was good at keeping his composure... Unlike their alleged leader, Soonyoung, who clearly wanted to punch the "nabby-dabby idol princes".

"All right, introduce yourselves." Came the command from their supposed employer, or at least a representative of their employer.

"HiImKwonSoonyoungandImabouttoliterallykickyourass." Soonyoung grumbled through gritted teeth while Junhui jabbed an elbow dangerously close to his leader's ribs.

"I'm sorry about that, our leader has some... issues." Minghao said apologetically as Chan grabbed onto Soonyoung while Junhui stood at a safe distance with his arms crossed, watching Soonyoung's fists flail just inches from his nose, "Anyway... I guess I'll just introduce them since they're... busy. This is Kwon Soonyoung, our leader, that's Wen Junhui-" the boy gave an acknowledging, almost gentlemanly, nod towards the nine idol members, "our youngest, Lee Chan-"

"Nice to meet you!" Chan managed to shout over his shoulder while Soonyoung continued to struggle.

"And I'm Xu Minghao. Um... I look forward to working with you... Right, guys?" The initially sweet boy's voice suddenly rose sharply as he shot a glare behind him towards the squabbling gang members.

"Yup!" Chan quipped while Junhui shrugged nonchalantly, Soonyoung continued to make displeased growling noises but stopped trying to punch Junhui's face into the back mirror.

It was a disaster right off the bat. As if the introduction didn't make that point enough, practice itself felt like an all-out war. In fact, Chan was convinced that a war actually could have broken out at one point when one of the idols accidentally hit Soonyoung in the face with a loose shoe. It was a good thing Junhui was close enough to calm Soonyoung's rage... or at least enough so that no bones were broken. Besides, Chan trusted that Soonyoung had enough sense in him to not muck everything up. They needed the money.

"We have _nine freakin'_ people, why the heck did they even get backup dancers?" The shortest boy, Chan remembered him as Jihoon with some misleadingly cute stage name, complained, not bothering to even tone down his volume.

"Maybe because you guys suck at dancing." Soonyoung replied back from their corner of the practice room, not even bothering to look at the group.

"Excuse me?"

"Hey, hey, let's not fight, we have to work together and put on a good performance!" The idols' leader, Seungcheol, seemed to be desperately trying to remain a pacifist despite the obviously hostile atmosphere from both sides, "By the way, can I talk to you about the choreography later?" He added, looking directly at Soonyoung. Chan had to draw in a breath for the guy, he had some guts.

"Why? Can't you say it now? Or is the leader too much of a pansy for public confrontation?" Soonyoung taunted, leaning back in his chair with one leg over the other.

"...Well, if you insist." Seungcheol sighed as Chan applauded him mentally for his patience, "Since it's a Christmas themed special, don't you think the choreography is a little... too wild?"

"Hey, you paid us to give you guys unique choreography style, we're giving you unique choreography style."

"Yes, but-"

"Take it or leave it, I guess."

Chan found himself holding his breath for the nth time that day as Soonyoung returned Seungcheol's stare with a glare, crossing his arms indignantly. The stare-down continued for a while longer until Seungcheol finally gave an exasperated sigh and turned away, returning to his own members.

Meanwhile, Soonyoung also let loose his position and began to fan himself, "That was close, my eyes were getting dry."

"You looked so stupid!" Junhui laughed, his burst of energy influencing Chan and Minghao as the younger so-called gangsters also broke into laughter while Soonyoung protested from the side, trying to conceal a childish pout.

"...So they can also make that kind of expression."

Seungcheol jumped slightly at the low voice coming from behind him, turning to see Wonwoo sitting calmly near the wall. The rapper hadn't been involved with any of the conflicts, it almost seemed like he was invisible throughout the entire ordeal. Seungcheol thought he just wanted to get things over with, so it was definitely a shock to him that Wonwoo would suddenly take an interest in observing their so-far-enemies.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. They're just different from my original impression of them. We've all heard of them, right? The notorious street gang made up of four young men who would do anything and everything for money, when you think about it, they're really just a couple of jacks-of-all-trades," seeing the look on Seungcheol's face, Wonwoo quickly added, "minus the violence and illegal acts, of course."

"You really have to wonder if that's true though. Why would the company employ them if they've been involved in illegal acts?" Hansol casually joined in on the conversation, pulling his chair closer to the older rappers.

"Why are you defending them?" Seungcheol raised an eyebrow at their maknae.

"I'm just saying. I know how rumors can be, you know?" Hansol shrugged, "Besides, they're just kids, their age range is almost exactly like ours. There's no doubt they're great dancers, too."

"Yes, but again, I don't think their style-"

"How come he gets to rest?" Seungcheol quickly whipped his head around to see Mingyu confronting the gang members on his own, indicating towards Minghao, who was sitting on the side while the other three members practiced what appeared to be an incredibly dangerous routine which involved the smallest boy using the other two as some sort of launchpad tower.

"Why do you care?" Soonyoung grumbled, already done with the idols' stupidity for one day.

"I'm just asking. Looks like someone gets special treatment for no reason."

"Minghao-hyung has a frail body, and we still have to practice as a whole group later. It'd be bad if he fainted now." Chan explained before Soonyoung could literally bite Mingyu's head off.

"Then why do you even keep him around?" Mingyu asked, looking down at Minghao with his hands tucked into his pockets, "I mean, aren't gangsters supposed to be all tough and stuff? Wouldn't he just be a burden if a fight breaks out-"

Before Mingyu could finish his sentence, Minghao had gotten up at some point during his careless rambling and was now suddenly positioned right in front of Mingyu, his eyes bored into the taller boy's, and when Mingyu finally found the strength to move his gaze away from Minghao's deathly glare, he noticed that the shorter boy's leg was raised above his shoulder, positioned right next to Mingyu's head. It felt like a stop-motion scene straight out of some action movie.

"That's why."

"Can't judge a book by its cover, didn't anyone teach you that?" He had wanted to remain a pacifist like Minghao, but Chan couldn't help joining in on the taunting with Soonyoung. It wasn't the first time someone's mistaken Minghao to be an easy target to bully because of his seemingly frail and sweet image, and the gang was honestly tired of it, even though it worked in their favor when they get into fights.

With that, the gang left Mingyu still frozen in the same spot, moving their practice to a different space as the idol group stared, whispering to one another when the gang was far enough from earshot.

 _Why?_ Seungcheol thought to himself as he looked towards the staff members, who were engage in some sort of discussion, probably regarding costume designs or filming, _But why? Why are they letting us work with dangerous people like them?_

* * *

"Here." Minghao looked up to see Wonwoo holding out a towel for him with a cowering Mingyu behind the older boy, "A peace offering from Mingyu. Even though he was too scared to hand it to you by himself."

The second to youngest street dancer looked from the rough fabric in Wonwoo's hand to said rapper's face, then at Mingyu's. "Thank you." Minghao smiled at the two in turn, taking the towel gratefully, "I accept this... peace offering."

Wonwoo laughed, patting Mingyu on the shoulder, "I told you, Minghao's not the type to harm someone for no reason. Even earlier, he only gave you a warning."

Mingyu grumbled a "Shut up" before going off to pass towels to the others, meanwhile Minghao jumped slightly at the mention of his name. He was shocked that Wonwoo remembered since he only said it once during his introduction, not to mention the older didn't seem like he was even listening... Now that he thought about it, Wonwoo was the first of the idols to acknowledge the gangsters on a "human level", the others, including Seungcheol, still held quite a distance towards them, even though some made an effort to act friendly, like Seokmin and Seungkwan.

"So, I saw that fancy footwork earlier, and I must say, it's impressive." Wonwoo continued, ignoring Minghao's bewildered look.

"Oh, thanks... Um..." The street dancer couldn't help glancing towards the other idols, "Should you really be talking to me? Won't the others have something to say?"

Wonwoo shrugged nonchalantly, his carefree aura reminded Minghao of Junhui for some reason, "There's nothing to say. We're all working together, that makes us allies."

"Allies, huh?" Minghao repeated with a small smile, "That reminds me of what Junnie-hyung told me when I first joined the gang."

There was a slight pause as Minghao wondered if that was too awkward of a topic to jump to. But instead of inching away or backing off, Wonwoo asked, "Why did you join the gang, if I may ask?"

"Oh, it's a silly story," the dancer's smile widened, this was clearly one of his favorite stories to tell, "to tell you the truth, all four of us knew each other in underground dances. I guess it was a form of relief for all of us. I used to get beaten up a lot because of my frail image, so I took up wushu, and no one bothered me again. The downside was that I became a pretty stereotypical delinquent, people gradually distanced themselves from me, I was even banned from dance battles for my violence."

"Hm." Wonwoo nodded, indicating that he was still listening. In fact, he seemed very much interested in the continuation of the story.

"But then Junnie-hyung came, I guess he's what you call... a total complete airhead," Wonwoo let out a chuckle at this but waited for Minghao to proceed, "I don't think he really understood how dangerous I was and only responded to my violent speech with amused laughter. He used to talk a lot to me, but then one day, he stopped. He didn't stop coming to visit me, but he stopped talking. Instead, he would bring food, pat me on the head, and then leave. Then he started talking to me again, but in very short sentences, and he rarely initiates conversation..." Minghao shook his head and decided that he should probably finish up the story, "Then one day he showed up with Ho- I mean, Soonyoung-hyung, who said, 'Two is better than one. And now you have three.'"

"Your leader... he sounds like a good person." Wonwoo commented after taking the story in, glancing over towards Soonyoung, who was yelling at Mingyu for entering his personal space when the latter only wanted to give him a towel. Chan accepted the towel in Soonyoung's place, assuring the older that it wasn't dipped in poison.

"He is, if you look past his crankiness. Junnie-hyung said he used to be a bright and cheerful kid though. He does like to joke when we're together, but outside, he puts on a business front, I suppose." Minghao shrugged, wondering why he was being so talkative to a person he just met. Maybe Wonwoo's quiet and calming aura just prompted him to do so.

On the far side of the room, Mingyu had successfully handed towels out to everyone, the last one being Junhui. Except, the dancer had practically snatched it out his hands and walked off without saying a word or giving Mingyu so much as a glance.

"Wow, does he ever talk?" Mingyu muttered, scowling at the rude behavior. The least he could do was at least acknowledge another dude's existence.

"...Jun-hyung has selective mutism." Chan spoke in his hyung's defense, wondering for a second about whether he had the right to answer this question for his claimed brother, but thought it was for the best since he didn't want Junhui to be misunderstood any further, "He _suffers_ from selective mutism."

Mingyu looked as though he didn't quite understand what Chan meant by that, but knew better than to inquire further. "You're the youngest in your group, right?" He suddenly said as Chan nodded in response, "I guess that makes you the maknae. Meanwhile, there's our maknae... hey, maybe you guys will get along." With that irresponsible sentence thrown, Mingyu walked away to where Chan hoped was the opposite direction of wherever Junhui went. The last thing they needed was another conflict, and this time someone might actually get hurt as Junhui wasn't as careful with his wushu.

Nonetheless, Chan looked over at where Mingyu had pointed briefly to while talking about the youngest of the idols. He was shocked to see said boy practicing the dance routine alone, well, the part that shocked him was how accurately he had copied the moves down despite Soonyoung only bothering to run it through once for the idols.

He thought idols were used to dancing dainty or very much "structured" moves, so Chan didn't think even one of them would be able to pick up the gangster's freestyle flow that easily. Yet, there it was.

"Uh." Chan must have swallowed audibly as Hansol turned to look at him, an amused lop-sided smirk on his face, "Liking what you see?"

"...What?" Wow, cheesy right from the start?

"My dance."

"O-oh, that's what you meant."

Hansol quirked an eyebrow at the younger boy, but broke into amused laughter, "You're a lot softer than you try to appear, huh?"

"I could say the same to you." The two returned each other's sheepish grins, Chan had never felt so awkward in his life, yet at the same time he didn't want to just bolt up and leave either, "I, uh..."

"So, ice cream?"

"Huh?"

"At seven. I'll go pick you up. They're letting you stay at Building C, right?"

"Huh? Yeah, but I mean- wait, what?"

Did he really just get himself an ice cream date in the most awkward and random way? And why ice cream? They weren't babies... but he didn't like coffee anyway, and a meal date always seemed too extravagant... Oh god, they were babies.

* * *

 

"Hey," Junhui jumped slightly at the call, he had planned on sneaking onto the balcony alone, but guess he got caught earlier than expected. But it didn't sound like any of the other three's voices, so he had his guard up- "Long time no see."

"Oh, it's just you." Junhui chuckled, relaxing his shoulders as Seungcheol stepped onto the balcony, "Aren't you cold?"

"Aren't _you_ cold?" Seungcheol winced slightly at the t-shirt and baggy sports pants Junhui was wearing against the slightly bitter wind.

"Been on the streets for too long to notice."

Seungcheol was silent as Junhui laughed in an almost pathetic way, before finally asking the real question, "Why did you join a gang? More like, why are you with that guy?"

"You mean Soonyoung? Or as we know him as, Hoshi." This time, Junhui's smile seemed almost malicious.

"Junhui, listen, isn't Soonyoung kind of... abusive? I mean, is he forcing you three to follow him or something?"

"Seungcheol, I don't think you have a right to call someone else abusive, when we all know what you did back in our innocent school boy days." Junhui continued, his voice had turned soft, but evidently cold, "I don't know what you're onto," he spoke gently, but with a far too dangerous air as he looked at Seungcheol through sharply narrowed eyes, "but Soonyoung has _never_ hurt any of us."

The older boy met Junhui's hostile air calmly, but the latter could tell that there were mixed emotions. Confusion? Despair? Maybe even regret?

"I understand... I still look forward to working with you, nonetheless."

"Yes, same here."

Junhui waited until Seungcheol was completely out of sight before letting out a sigh of relief, but it was quickly caught in his throat when he realized someone else was behind the door and was making their way onto the balcony. Before he could somehow escape, a blonde head poked itself around the sliding doors, catching Junhui in the act of... whatever it was he was doing.

"Hey, you're the dude that doesn't talk! Wow, but you were really talkative with the leader... Ah, I think I understand now."

Junhui wished the stranger, or rather, Mingyu, would just shut up. He didn't have anything against him personally, but he was bad at dealing with people like him. Talkative airheads. Because they reminded him too much of his "normal" self.

"Hey, wait." Mingyu stopped Junhui from making a quick escape past him by grabbing onto his arm, pulling him back outside, "I don't understand what this selective mutism thing you have is, but I want to. I know it's none of my business, but I feel sorry about misunderstanding you and Minghao earlier, please let me make it up to you."

Junhui looked at Mingyu with surprise. Given that his initial image towards Mingyu was that of utter hatred due to his insensitive comments regarding Minghao, he definitely wasn't expecting such an earnest plead for forgiveness. Guess they really should listen to themselves and stop judging books by their covers.

"Sorry, I know you don't want to talk, and you don't have to. Um, just listen to me ramble, I guess? Or like, you can at least nod or shake your head, right? Oh god, if I'm bothering you, feel free to just leave, I feel stupid for grabbing you..."

The dancer couldn't help letting out a laugh at how awkward the claimed visual of the idol group was, especially given his tall built. Another lesson. In fact, Junhui was actually finding it quite endearing, despite having an intense dislike for the dude just a while ago. He shook his head and motioned for Mingyu to go on by waving his hand nonchalantly.

"Well, um... as I said earlier, I'd really like to know more about you, but I guess I should introduce myself first. I'm Kim Mingyu, aspiring visual, I'm in the Hip Hop Unit, so I write rap lyrics, and, uh... I heard from Minghao that you all have a code name in the gang. So far I know his is The8, your leader is called Hoshi, and the youngest is Dino... Wonwoo-hyung made me come ask you for yours-" seeing Junhui's arched eyebrow, Mingyu quickly rushed on, "I mean, you don't have to! It's just something random I wanted to talk about..."

Junhui grinned, nodding gently. He wanted to thank Mingyu for not forcing him to talk or demanding to know the reason like most people had, so he simply mouthed "thank you" to the younger boy.

"...You look really pretty when you smile, by the way- I mean, you're a guy, you probably don't want to be called pretty, but you are, and- oh god, kill me..."

Now then, Junhui was normally a very outgoing person, even mute, but he was definitely caught off guard by the comment and immediately began to shy away as Mingyu reached over to brush a stray strand of hair out of the older's eyes.

"Oh, sorry, the members often tell me I don't have much respect for personal space..." Mingyu laughed awkwardly, flinching his hand away when he noticed Junhui's downcast gaze and nervous stepping.

Junhui shook his head to show that it's fine.

"...I should probably go back inside, thanks for letting me ramble, and um... we should do this again? I mean, not me rambling, but like, just you know, hang out? Hey, if you want, we could just text, why don't you give me your phone number-"

"Mingyu, are you seriously flirting with him?!" Jihoon's angry yell came from inside as a hand suddenly shot out from the curtains and dragged Mingyu indoors.

"Call me!" Mingyu said in a mock-dramatic way, extending his hand towards Junhui dramatically.

Junhui chuckled softly, pondered for a few seconds to himself before making his resolve. Turning to the already disappearing young rapper, Junhui managed to stumble out, "J-Jun..."

"What?"

"My code name. It's Jun." Junhui smiled, as a surprised look came over Mingyu's face, which slowly turned into delight from feeling somehow accomplished, "Anti-climatic though, isn't it?" The dancer laughed to himself as the doors closed, leaving him alone once more on the balcony.


	2. I Scream, You Scream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A modern day Romeo and Juliet ensues, featuring ChanSol.  
> WonHao are supportive fluffballs (that can kill you), Soonyoung is angry as usual, and Junhui isn't helping anyone. Seungcheol doesn't know how to control his kids, Mingyu just wants senpai to text him.

After what they loosely called a "housewarming party" for the four backup dancers, Chan flopped down onto his bed, ready to sleep straight until noon. Thirteen boys in one room was just way too rowdy, and don't get him started on the number of staff members that were present to make sure no one got trampled over, intentionally or not. The promised ice cream date with Hansol still hung at the back of his mind, but he doubted the youngest idol was still up for it at this hour.

"YO, CHAN!"

Clearly, he was wrong.

"Is that guy crazy?" Chan hissed under breath, shooting up from the mattress and peeking out from the crack of his curtains. Sure enough, Hansol was standing outside the gates, waving merrily up at the youngest dancer with a blissfully ignorant grin on his face, "Man, he seriously has no sense of danger..." Chan muttered, scrambling to put on a coat and shoving his sneakers on, not caring that Hansol was clearly finding amusement in watching him stumbling clumsily out the door, "You hush, do you want to be skinned alive by Soonyoung-hyung?"

Hansol only smiled and shrugged, "What's wrong with a harmless ice cream date?"

"That's one thing, but waking the hyungs up in the middle of the night is another!" Chan sighed loudly as Hansol simply just laughed, "Also, stop referring to this as a date, I'm just here for the ice cream."

"Sure, sure, whatever makes you comfortable."

"It's not about what makes me comfortable, it's a fact!" Chan continued to argue one-sidedly as Hansol threw a scarf around the younger's neck casually, humming absentmindedly to himself while fixing the garment. Finally noticing the intimate action, Chan nudged Hansol's hands away, insisting that he can put the scarf on himself, not forgetting to thank him for the gesture, of course. Even though it was greatly unwanted.

As the two finally left the gates, one reluctant and one completely carefree, they failed to notice a small movement by the curtains upstairs.

"Jun-hyung, are you not sleepy?" Minghao asked sleepily, pushing himself up from his bed and looking at the older boy drowsily.

"Ah, no, I was just checking the window. Feels a bit chilly, don't you think?" Junhui replied with an absentminded grin, closing the curtains tightly behind him.

"Well, if you're done, shut up and sleep." Soonyoung grumbled, rolling over on his bed.

"Yes, of course." Without another word, Junhui walked towards the sleeping lump that is Soonyoung and laid down next to him on top of the blankets, ruffling the younger's hair soothingly, waiting for his leader to drift completely into sleep by listening to his breathing that was growing softer bit by bit.

Minghao turned over on his mattress, one hand tucked underneath his pillow as his default comfort position, he looked over sleepily at the older two, "Good night, Soonyoung-hyung, Junnie-hyung."

"Night." Junhui gave Minghao a brief smile before turning his attention back to Soonyoung. He knew that their young leader had been suffering the most ever since they were offered the job, maybe even long before that. And Junhui knew all too well what the cause was, or rather, _who_ the cause was. Listening to the quiet snoring coming from the sleeping boy, as gently as possible, Junhui brushed Soonyoung's bangs apart, planting a soft kiss on his leader's forehead, "Don't worry, I'll get rid of him for you."

He paused, and scowled. _But before that, there's probably something else more urgent..._

* * *

"Here, I got you a chocolate flavored cone." Hansol said, handing over the frozen treat as Chan picked a spot on the bench, "You don't have to sit that far away."

"Oh, don't I?" Chan scoffed, but took the cone from him anyway, "You pretty much just kidnapped me, you know."

"Really? Because it seemed to me that you came willingly." Hansol replied, his cheeky grin not wavering in the least.

Chan rolled his eyes, lapping at the frozen cream. He sighed, as good as the treat was, it didn't calm him down one bit, thinking about how screwed he would be when one of the three wakes up and finds his bed empty, "Aren't you worried about what your members might say if they find out about you hanging out with me?"

The young rapper shrugged, running his tongue all the way around his cone, turning it with the tips of his fingers, "I don't really care. I can choose who I want to hang out with, right?"

"So I don't scare you?"

Hansol shook his head.

"At all?"

Another shake.

"Come on, not even a little bit?"

Hansol laughed as Chan's voice raised into a whine, the younger then proceeded to eat the rest of his treat grudgingly. After finishing off his own cone and throwing away the now sticky paper napkins, Hansol decided to take Chan home the long way, much to the latter's despair.

"You know I could just ditch you, right?"

"You wouldn't." Hansol replied, not even bothering to glance at Chan, his hands tucked into his pockets confidently as he walked ahead.

Of course, Chan seriously considered just turning in the opposite direction, but realized he didn't actually know the way back. Telling himself that it was completely due to his lacking sense in directions and not because he was giving into Hansol's obvious flirt invitations, Chan scurried along after the older boy.

Slowing down his pace slightly, Hansol waited for the youngest dancer to catch up before opening a possibly sensitive topic, "So what's a good kid like you doing in one of the most infamous gangs around?"

Oh boy. Chan knew it was coming sooner or later, but he didn't think it'd be in a completely inappropriate, public, yet casual situation like this. "Um... I'd rather not say."

"Come on, you can tell me, I have no reason to blab to the others, it's just for my own satisfaction."

Chan scoffed at Hansol's pushiness, "A sheltered kid like you wouldn't understand."

"Hm." Hansol stopped in his tracks, which almost caused Chan to walk straight into his back, but thank goodness the younger had good reflexes and pulled the brakes on his heels before they fell into yet another cliche circumstance. However, when the older turned around, all of his previous carefree demeanor vanished, and was replaced by a look of detest, "You really think a guy with my appearance is sheltered in a country like this?"

The young gangster looked towards the side, avoiding Hansol's gaze. Minghao was always scolding Soonyoung about thinking before he spoke, Chan never knew he'd be the one to fall into a bad situation from a habit he was so sure he had steered clear of, "I'm sorry."

Retracting his cold demeanor, the rapper shook his head and grinned, "I mean, you're not completely wrong. I had a good childhood, nothing too scarring, warm happy family... It's just people, you know? But what can you do about it?" Hansol shrugged, "I got over it, and now nothing bothers me."

Chan nodded, still feeling guilty about his careless accusation. He shuffled his feet uneasily against the pavement, "Still, I shouldn't have said that."

"Nah, it's all good. You're right, I don't know what it feels like to be driven into prowling the streets. I'm sure something serious must have happened, it was insensitive of me." Hansol shrugged again, lifting an arm up to pat Chan on the head comfortingly.

The latter surprisingly accepted the comforting touch, and at the expense of his own shock and embarrassment, Chan pushed on, "But to be honest, I like the way you look. I-I don't mean that in the creepy way, it's just... Okay, simply put, you're a very handsome guy." When no response came from Hansol, not even a lift of the eyebrow, Chan quickly added in almost a squeak, "Sorry."

"Oh, no, don't say that!" Hansol broke into a laughing fit, slipping an arm around Chan's to steady himself from falling off the curb, "I'm flattered, really."

They continued to walk on, allowing the silence to drawl out. It felt uncomfortable on Chan's side, but Hansol seemed to be as carefree as usual, even humming to himself from time-to-time, skipping the high notes in the process. Chan would have found that hilarious if he wasn't so nerve-wrecked about the awkwardness that seemed to be aimed at him personally.

As the last crosswalk before they arrive at Building C came into view, Chan cleared his throat uneasily, "Financial issues."

"Hm?"

"The reason why I joined a street gang." He was practically just croaking, but Chan didn't care as long as the words could be delivered without any misunderstandings, "It's nothing exciting, your usual cliche story of an unlucky family with a shitty excuse for a father. My old man had a gambling problem, and, well, as you would expect, one day he just up and left us shouldering his debt."

Hansol didn't make any comments, but he wasn't stuck in his own world like earlier either, his eyes were completely focused on Chan as they crossed the street, only tearing his attention away briefly to avoid tripping over a curb.

"I mean, before he left, I would often hang out at an underground dance arena just to get away from him, leaving my mom and younger siblings to deal with that shitty excuse of a- I don't even want to use that word on him. That's where I got acquainted with the hyungs."

"Did they offer to help you when that bastard ran off?" Hansol asked, walking slowly down the sidewalk towards the gates.

Chan nodded, his voice becoming even softer at the memory, "Minghao-hyung is very sensitive, he immediately noticed that something was wrong when I stopped showing up at the arena. Jun-hyung is really good at collecting intel, so it didn't take long for them to find out about, well, everything. Then they took me in, saying that in exchange, I will be in charge of cooking. It didn't work out well in that aspect," he couldn't help breaking into a small smile at this point, "so now Jun-hyung takes care of most of our meals, I'm in charge of cleanups."

They came to a stop in front of the gates. Chan licked his lips nervously, it didn't seem like Hansol had anything to say about his little story, so he might as well just head in, "Well, this was fun-"

"So the guys took this job to help pay off your debt, right?"

"...Yes, that's right." Chan let out a nervous laugh, "I guess it's my fault that we're all stuck in this situation, huh?" Another uncomfortable wave of silence washed ashore. Hansol seemed to be lost in thought, or maybe he was just regretting getting himself involved with a troublesome and problematic kid like Chan. Well, the latter didn't need to wait to hear his conclusion, "I should head in now, I'll see you tomorrow at practice-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Hansol had slipped an arm around Chan's waist, turning the younger around and briefly brushing his lips over the latter's. Chan now found himself gaping at a smirking Hansol, who had somehow at some point slipped Chan's scarf off in the process, or rather, the scarf that Hansol had let him borrow earlier, "I'll be taking this back. You want to keep this a secret from your hyungs, right?" He paused, and the younger could already guess what kind of cheesy move he was going to pull next, "I'd be more than willing to put something else on you that won't be so easy to remove-"

"Good night, Hansol-hyung."

"Aw, don't be like that." Hansol continued to laugh as he watched Chan slip through the gates towards the building's main door, "Hey! Let's do this again soon?"

For a moment, it seemed like the younger either didn't hear Hansol or simply chose to ignore him, but before disappearing behind the door, Chan called softly towards Hansol's direction, "Tomorrow, 8:30pm."

* * *

 

Much to Minghao's surprise, practice had been coming along relatively smoothly. The idols were very fast learners, and Soonyoung had evidently softened his demeanor, largely thanks to Seokmin and Seungkwan's relentless attempts at making him laugh. Even though he was still strict in general, Minghao could tell that their infamously coldblooded leader was developing a soft spot for the wacky duo.

In addition, maybe it was due to their similar personalities and sense of responsibilities towards their jobs and roles as leaders, Soonyoung and Jihoon were surprisingly starting to get along as well. Minghao actually felt that it might be possible for them to finish this job off with a bang and room to spare.

That was, until Junhui made a harmless little comment one day during their water break, "Don't you think the youngest ones have been getting along well lately?"

"Hm? Yeah, it's good that Chan's been able to make a friend. You, on the other hand-"

"Oh please, Minghao, this is not about me."

Ignoring the fact that Junhui was drinking out of an empty water bottle, the freestyle break dance specialist turned towards the older boy, who was now focused on getting the last drop of nonexistent liquid from his container, "Okay, if you know something, why don't you just come out and say it?"

Junhui merely gave a weak smile, finally abandoning his sorry act, "I don't do that anymore, The8."

" _Now_ you're making me worried-"

"What are you doing?"

Minghao quickly clamped his mouth shut at the familiar voice of a particular dongsaeng, ironically one they were about to get worked up over just a few moments ago. But what made Minghao shut up was how strangely breathy it sounded, echoing from the washroom next to where they were sitting. Something was definitely fishy.

"Hansol, one of the hyungs might come."

Ever so silently, Junhui tossed a look over at Minghao, whose mouth had dropped open again, but thankfully no sound came out.

"I'm going to be honest, I'm a little tired of keeping this a secret. What's the worst that can happen?" Came Hansol's voice, evidently in a much smoother condition than Chan's.

"Uh, have you not met my leader? Someone might lose a head, I'm not even kidding."

"Over _this_? We're having a comic book date in the washroom, Chan."

Minghao had to stuff a sock in Junhui's mouth to stop the older from bursting into laughter and giving away their presence.

A sigh that most likely came from Chan echoed softly from behind the door, "Whatever the case, they probably won't let us meet each other anymore if they find out, Hansol. Do you really want that?" Chan's voice was raising gradually, and he seemed to have dropped whatever he was reading, "Because I don't."

"Chan-"

"I really don't think I'll be able to take that..."

Minghao held his breath, not wanting to miss any sounds of movement on the other side. He could guess that Hansol had probably shuffled over to Chan's side, and was whispering to him softly, "It'll be all right..."

"Shut up. It's your fault for making me so obsessed with you."

"Aw, you're obsessed with me?"

"Hansol, I swear to god-"

The silence that ensued was a signal to Minghao that the two were probably engaged in a certain intimate action, and if he valued the innocent image of his dongsaeng, he would get up and leave before things got any worse.

He turned to look at Junhui, who nodded and got up from the floor. As they walked down the hallway back towards the practice room, Minghao decided to break the silence first, "So how long have you known?"

"A month."

"A MONTH?!"

"No, of course not, we haven't even been here that long." Junhui scoffed, ignoring the death glare Minghao was drilling into him from the side, "It's been almost two weeks, I believe."

"ALMOST TWO WEEKS?!" Minghao quickly lowered his volume as some of the members lying around in the practice room turned to look at them, already making a ruckus as they opened the door, "What are we going to tell Soonyoung-hyung?"

"I don't know about you, but I'm not going to say anything," Junhui shrugged, tossing his towel onto a table nearby and making his way to his usual stretching corner, "I told you, I don't do that anymore."

* * *

 

With the well-being of his fellow members and friends in mind, Minghao had decided to go grocery shopping alone to clear his mind. Another reason was to avoid Soonyoung since he knew he'd probably be driven by guilt and end up spilling everything to the older boy, then suffer another guilt trip from Chan. Sometimes things were just much safer away from the gang.

So how did he find himself cornered in this random dark alleyway by some guys he didn't recognize? From the way they were going on about revenge and avenging someone or something, Minghao guessed it was probably one of the many dudes he had beaten up just for fun before.

Well, he did promise Chan and the others that he wouldn't get into personal fights anymore, so he was ready to just stand there and take the punches. It was okay, they had access to first-aid kits now, not to mention if all fails, there was still makeup.

Minghao watched as the first swing came, he thought he felt a kick loosely connect itself to his right ankle, but his mind had already drifted off elsewhere. What should he request Junhui to cook when he got back? But first, what kind of excuse should he whip up? All just mental training that distracted him from the physical pain that was slowly starting to grow more prominent.

But then the shadows lifted, or more like, fell sideways on their own accord.

"Hey, can you stand?"

The dancer looked up blankly, meeting Wonwoo's steady gaze. His blank expression was quickly replaced by panic, "What are you doing here? Wait, did you-" he looked around at the scattered unconscious bodies of his self-claimed sworn enemies, "Did _you_ do this?"

"Home first, questions later." Wonwoo replied, holding out a hand for Minghao.

The latter took the offered hand in an almost completely instinctive and automatic way. _Home._ Minghao mused. _Doesn't sound half bad._

Still, there were too many things he needed to ask, specifically to the boy walking beside him in a completely casual manner, as though he didn't just single-handedly take care of a group of gangsters. Then again, most gangsters who singled out others in groups were just all bark and no bite, Minghao could have handled them on his own... if he wasn't so preoccupied with his "oath" to the others.

"Hey, Wonwoo-hyung?" The older boy's expression remained stoic, his lips were pressed into a hard line. Letting out a quiet sigh, Minghao continued, "I'm not going to ask any questions if you don't want to answer them, but I just want to say... Thanks."

Wonwoo's hand tightened around Minghao's, pulling him closer to his side as their dorm building came to view, "If fighting to protect yourself and your friends makes you evil, then I guess I'm just as evil as you." He sighed deeply, finally letting go of Minghao's hand when the latter opened the gates, "I promise I'll explain everything to you one day. But for the meantime, I would appreciate it if you kept this a secret... especially from that youngest one."

"I guess that's no problem... but why?"

"I don't know, there's just something about him..." Wonwoo shook his head, nudging Minghao inside the gates, "Please don't mind me. I'll come pick you up in the morning in case those guys come back."

"You really don't have to!" Minghao called after the already retreating figure, holding in an exasperated sigh. Really, he didn't exactly like being taken care of like some dainty princess. But at the same time, maybe that would give him more chances to dig out what Wonwoo was so desperately trying to hide. Sometimes Minghao wish he didn't have spy instincts. Only sometimes.

* * *

 

As Wonwoo opened the doors to his dorm, he tried to slip in as casually as possible and pretend that he was there the whole time. Unfortunately, Seungcheol immediately caught on, eyeing the dirt near the edges of his coat, then at the suspicious dark stains on his gloves.

"You said you quit." Seungcheol said, clearly not happy about what he had correctly guessed regarding Wonwoo's little episode outdoors.

"I did."

"Then how do you explain this?" The idols' leader gestured towards Wonwoo's entire frame, raising an eyebrow skeptically at him, "Wonwoo, if you don't tell me I'll get worried..."

"It was nothing, I swear." Wonwoo replied, practically peeling his gloves off his hands and tossing them into the laundry basket.

He definitely wasn't going to tell Seungcheol about the whole "saving-Minghao-from-gangsters" thing. As their leader, Seungcheol would probably view it as a safety threat towards the members, and request for the removal of the four street dancers. It wasn't that he was a bad person, but his sense of responsibility was just too strong sometimes.

Seungcheol looked as though he wanted to press the matter further, but was thankfully interrupted by the sound of plates crashing. Groaning, Seungcheol rushed to the source of the noise, followed closely by Wonwoo. They could both guess who was the culprit...

"Mingyu, what is it this time?"

The young rapper turned to look at his two very much worn out hyungs with excitement sparkling in his eyes, holding his phone up with a pair of rubber gloves, "Junhui-hyung finally texted me!"

"Oh, well, good for you?" Wonwoo blinked, glancing towards the kitchen to see if he could find the answer to why his dongsaeng was in such crazy attire. The soapy water foaming out of the kitchen sink helped him figure the mystery out.

"I need to text him back, what do I say?!"

"Relax, you're acting like a school girl in love."

"What is he when he isn't?" Wonwoo scoffed, making his way around Mingyu to look at what Junhui had sent. It was just a "hi" sticker. He rolled his eyes. It was strange seeing Mingyu obsessed over the seemingly quiet dancer, perhaps he was just being lead on by the latter's mysterious demeanor. Whatever the case was, Wonwoo didn't want to have anything to do with it. Don't get him wrong, he liked Junhui just fine, just like what he felt for the four-member gang as a whole, but it didn't change the fact that it was Junhui's fault that he now had to deal with Mingyu's not-so-inner-fanboy.

"Why don't you just ask him out?" Wonwoo shrugged, not missing Seungcheol's flinch.

"Do you really think I should?"

"Guys, we have practice tomorrow, let's turn in early." Seungcheol coughed uncomfortably, taking Mingyu's phone away and tossing it into a small cardboard box where the manager confiscate all their phones, just to make sure nobody stayed up late from the distraction.

Mingyu protested childishly but headed upstairs nonetheless.

Seungcheol looked over at Wonwoo, who was studying his leader's movements a little too closely for the former's comfort. "Well?"

After a few more seconds of drilling Seungcheol with his quiet stare, Wonwoo finally moved towards his bedroom, not forgetting to stop briefly by Seungcheol's shoulders, just to exert pressure on his usually responsible and open leader.

_"I know what you're plotting."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Running a little later than I expected, but I finally got this updated! Yeah... not much else to say except I hope you guys enjoy suspense and drama.


	3. Words Last a Lifetime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will last a lifetime."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> JunGyu-heavy chapter.

Mingyu didn't understand how things could have gone so horribly wrong.

Just this morning, he had woken up to a chipper feeling of receiving a text message from Junhui first thing of the day. It was a short "good morning" message, but it was more than enough to satisfy Mingyu. Granted, Junhui still didn't talk much when they meet in person, and the way he texts is also quite curt, but just his presence lightened up Mingyu's mood.

"I wonder if this is what it feels like to be in love." Mingyu had randomly commented while staring at the morning selfie Junhui had sent him.

"Somebody, take him away from me, please." Wonwoo had groaned in response.

Now then, "in love" was an understatement. Seungcheol was positive that Mingyu was head-over-heels for the seemingly mysterious street dancer, and he couldn't have that. He didn't mean to squander Mingyu's happiness, but he knew Junhui's true colors. Or rather, he was just beginning to realize his true colors himself.

However, things were going so well between the two teams that Seungcheol felt it would be a huge gamble to sit Mingyu down and talk about his insight of the situation, especially since they've managed to hold up until recording day already.

"Why are we recording already? It's not even Christmas yet." Soonyoung had grumbled while eyeing the reindeer accessories warily.

"They will be broadcasting it on Christmas, but it's always pre-recorded. You didn't know that?" Jihoon had shook his head in disappointment as Soonyoung merely slipped the cutest and smallest pair of floppy felt antlers on the shorter boy, then quickly dashed off for his life with Seokmin and Seungkwan laughing on the side.

It was honestly a relief for Junhui that Soonyoung seemed to be returning to his old self, being comfortable enough to fool around with the idols and all that was a huge step towards "recuperation". Yet, that certainly wasn't stopping him from carrying his plan forward.

His plan to sabotage the recording. He was sure that it'd be easy, he just had to mess up all the steps and confuse the other members by telling them incorrect choreography changes. They would have to re-record so many times that their scheduled time period would eventually run out, and they'd just have to deal with watching their first ever bad performance. Better yet, they wouldn't even be able to blame the gang, their personalities dictated that they would place all blame on their own inexperience instead. Not to mention over the past month, he had made sure to get on everyone's good side so that they'd have a trustworthy image of him, it was fool-proof.

At least that was what Junhui had thought. There wasn't possibly any room for miscalculations at this point of his life, right?

"Junhui-hyung!"

Tearing his darkened gaze away from the dressing table, the street dancer was immediately met with a pair of excited bright eyes, directly in contrast with his own. Quickly erasing the ill thoughts away, Junhui smiled at Mingyu, who had put on a Santa outfit along with reindeer antlers. It's been said many times before already, but Mingyu's large built was honestly in huge contrast with his generally fluffy personality.

"How do I look?" Mingyu chirped, bouncing slightly on his feet, causing the antlers to flop slightly.

Junhui only smiled, fixing the accessory so that it was centered, then tugging at the opening of Mingyu's Santa outfit so that less of his chest could be seen despite the shirt he wore underneath. After that was done and taken care of, Junhui's gaze traveled back up to the younger's perfectly sculpted face, brushed a finger over the latter's glossed lips to get rid of a cookie crumb left from an earlier snack break. Only then did Junhui give a satisfied nod.

While Mingyu noticed the brief darkness in Junhui's initial gaze, he dismissed it as a trick of the light.

* * *

"You're doing it all wrong!"

"No, I'm sure that we go like this, and this-"

"Why don't you all take a water break?"

Chan could tell that the staff was getting increasingly annoyed by the members flubbing their own choreography, and so was he. They never messed up this badly during practice before, and he was so sure the idols had the steps down pat. Perhaps they simply overestimated them, after all, not everyone could follow their flow-

"What were you guys thinking?"

He blinked, refocusing his gaze to see an oddly furious-looking Hansol. It took him another few seconds to realize the angered tone was directed at him. "Um, what?"

"Changing the choreography last minute. I thought we were supposed to discuss it together!"

Chan scowled, instinctively shoving Hansol away. For the first time since they've been together, the close proximity felt smothering to him. "We didn't change anything. Maybe you guys are just chickening out in front of the cameras."

"Oh," Hansol raised an eyebrow, not caring that his antler accessories were in danger of slipping off any second, "I see it's 'we' versus 'you guys' now."

"Don't flatter yourself, it's always been that way-"

"Hey, hey, chill!" Minghao quickly slid himself between the two youngest members, glancing over his shoulder apologetically at Hansol, he guided Chan to the side by the shoulders. The waiting room was pretty much a war zone, members blaming each other for obvious mistakes, members blaming the dancers, the dancers getting defensive, and in Soonyoung's case, threatening to use violence.

"Okay, let's get things straight first." Wonwoo sighed, attempting to quell Jihoon and Seungcheol's anger by appeasing to them with extra water runs, "Who exactly told you guys about the choreography changes?" The last question was directed at mostly every member who had claimed there to be a change in the steps.

The replies were scattered unevenly, but they all pointed to one specific name, "Junhui."

Seungcheol groaned, and Wonwoo sighed. Well, that's it, the mystery's been solved.

"T-there has to be a mistake, maybe he just got confused-"

"Mingyu, wake up." Seungcheol rolled his eyes, walking over to the younger rapper and placing a hand on his shoulder briefly before walking away to talk with the manager regarding what Mingyu could only hope to be something other than taking the dancers off the performance, "Your boyfriend's the one to blame."

* * *

Here he was, just minding his own business, admiring a good job done, of course, when suddenly an empty cup came flying out of no where and hit him square in the head. Scowling, Junhui turned to see an obviously fuming Mingyu, carrying a dozen more empty cups, and seemed to plan on pelting him with them.

"Are you happy now? All my friends are fighting, we might lose that broadcast slot, but you can just carry on with your life like none of this matters to you." Mingyu paused, taking a couple steps closer to the dancer, still clutching the paper cups, "Actually, yeah, none of this matters to you, huh? But still, being the dumbass I am, I'd still like to know... Why?" He took a deep breath before staring straight into Junhui's eyes, "Why did you do it?"

Junhui returned Mingyu's accusing glare with a steady gaze. He opened his mouth briefly, but then closed it again. Quietly, he slipped out his phone and indicated for Mingyu to do the same. Although grudgingly, Mingyu obliged. It was the only way he was probably going to get anything out of the guy.

'I did it for Soonyoung'

"Did he make you do it for him?" Mingyu asked, still holding the cups up like some sort of threat weapon.

'Soonyoung never makes us do anything for him' Junhui looked just a little annoyed, and Mingyu guessed he probably stepped on a landmine.

"Well then, what is with your obsession with Soonyoung?"

The next part of Junhui's text was quite lengthy it seemed, for he was taking his time typing. Mingyu leaned slightly against the wall, awaiting the long reply. It was a good thing he was leaning against hard surface, for he probably would have fallen over from what Junhui revealed next.

'Your leader, Seungcheol-hyung, he went to the same high school as us. Namely, Soonyoung and I. Soonyoung was the cheery easy-going kid who brightened up everyone's day, and Seungcheol-hyung, well, he was kind of the opposite. Annoyed by Soonyoung's personality which was in stark contrast to his, as well as maybe a tinge of jealousy for the latter's popularity, Seungcheol-hyung rounded up some people and began harassing Soonyoung. I believe the generic term would be bullying, but that just makes the mental abuse sound childish.'

Mingyu frowned, not knowing whether to believe this new piece of information. Now that there was proof of how manipulating Junhui could be, the taller boy was on full guard. This could just be another trick to turn him against his leader. Seeming to have sensed Mingyu's defensive stance on the matter, Junhui sighed and shook his head.

'You asked me to explain my motivation, and that's all I'm doing. Explaining.'

Although still skeptical, Mingyu nodded and indicated for Junhui to continue.

'Seungcheol-hyung and I were good friends, so naturally, you can guess which side I was on in that whole fiasco. I was in charge of spreading rumors, causing the whole school to shun Soonyoung within just days. On top of that, I also said things to Soonyoung that should never be repeated. I'm almost positive that I was a huge proportion of how twisted his mentality became, but that's a far more complicated story that you probably don't want to hear from me. Soonyoung wasn't able to get into college because of all the false rumors, and that's probably how he ended up on the streets.'

"What about you?" Mingyu asked after a long period of thinking, trying to stomach down all the information that was suddenly crammed at him, "How did you end up with Soonyoung-hyung despite all of that?"

'I felt responsible. Wouldn't you?'

Suddenly, Mingyu felt light in the head, and at this point, he felt like he's already passed out but his body still refused to give out. All of it suddenly made sense, leading to a truth that Mingyu should have honestly seen coming since the first time he saw Junhui with Soonyoung. Because he felt guilty about abusing his right with words, Junhui developed a fear to talking. Heck, Junhui probably joined the whole street gang scene because of him. Everything. Everything was because of Soonyoung.

"Are you kidding me?" Mingyu raised his head from his phone, glaring at Junhui, "Are you seriously kidding me?"

Junhui's quizzical look only made him even more furious.

"Don't act innocent now, you know just as well as I do!"

The dancer still looked puzzled by Mingyu's outburst, looking almost worried for the younger boy.

Taking a shaking breath to steady himself somewhat, Mingyu continued, only managing to choke out the horrifying words in a whisper, "You're in love with Soonyoung-hyung."

He didn't wait for Junhui's reaction, and the latter certainly didn't seem like he was denying the accusation, for no notification ring came from Mingyu's phone even after he had ran as far away from the spot as possible. The only comforting thing that awaited him in the waiting room was the contrasting serene state it was now in. Wonwoo and Minghao had successfully calmed their respective members down, and Jihoon had made a final check with Soonyoung regarding the choreography. They were sure they could nail the pre-recording now.

"Mingyu-hyung, what's wrong?"

The rapper looked up to see Hansol, whose arms were wrapped around Chan's waist in a comforting manner despite their previous argument. Seeing as no one else had given a reaction to the oddly intimate action between the maknaes, Mingyu decided to dismiss it as some sort of brotherly hug between the two. Something that Junhui had once done just to see Mingyu's reaction when he blew on his neck.

"Nothing. Nothing at all."

* * *

"Oh, hey." Wonwoo was surprisingly the first one to greet Junhui after the recording, which they were thankfully able to go through much more smoothly this time despite the obvious addition of tension, "Thanks for behaving."

Junhui simply shrugged, but chose to sit down next to Wonwoo in the van. Partly because Hansol and Chan were cuddling in the back "in secret", and partly because Wonwoo seemed like the only person who wouldn't beat him up after what he did. He was envious of how easily Hansol and Chan were able to reconcile so quickly, but he probably needed to have a word or two with Chan about discretion.

"So, I get that you don't want to talk," Wonwoo continued after clearing his throat in a semi-uncomfortable manner, "but Minghao told me about how you guys met, and Mingyu kind of confronted Seungcheol-hyung back there about your past."

The corner of Junhui's mouth twitched, but he didn't say anything in response.

"Anyway," Wonwoo went on, not caring if Junhui was really listening or not, "according to Minghao's story, your selective mutism didn't develop until a while after you met him, so it couldn't have been a direct response to what happened with Soonyoung, right?"

Although reluctant, Junhui nodded.

Wonwoo sighed. "I'm not asking you to tell me everything, believe me, I know what it's like to have a past you're not proud of. But I'm just saying, there are some things that can't be told without words."

* * *

That night, Mingyu couldn't sleep, and who could blame him? Seungcheol didn't deny it when he confronted him about the whole bullying Soonyoung into a supposedly violent freak, and then there was the issue with Junhui. Who could he even trust anymore?

He was about to get up and pour himself a glass of water when he heard the creaking of floorboards at the door. He didn't really understand why he felt like he needed to hide, but he quickly dived back into his blankets and covered himself protectively like a fearless burrito. Burying his face into the sheets, he shut his eyes tight, trying to look as deeply in sleep as possible.

The new presence made their way slowly across the room, making sure not to interrupt any of Mingyu's roommates, and eventually, Mingyu felt their gaze burning into his back. Self-consciously, Mingyu tightened the covers around him, and curled up into an even smaller ball for protection against whoever it was that had snuck into their room in the middle of the night.

The person remained silent as they moved closer towards Mingyu's bunk, until they were close enough to hear Mingyu's soft fake snoring. On the other hand, Mingyu could hear them swallowing a lump in their throat. Quiet smacking noises could be heard as they opened and closed their mouth indecisively.

"...Mingyu."

The voice almost shocked Mingyu out of his skin. It sounded foreign, yet inviting. Foreign, because he's barely ever heard it due to a very specific condition; inviting, because it literally sounded like someone decided to dip their voice into hot chocolate laced with whip cream.

"Mingyu," the voice continued, and said rapper could feel the person lean down until their lips were right next to his ear, "...I love you."

Maybe it was because of the blankets, but Mingyu immediately felt his face heat up, and thanked the darkness for concealing the redness creeping up to his ear tips.

"I love you."

The person said again, even softer than earlier.

"I love you."

* * *

"I've had my share of street life." Wonwoo said, not turning around as he gazed over the bridge towards the far end of the river. The cool night air calmed him, and he was sure that no one else had noticed his leave, "I know you have your own thoughts regarding what kind of person Seungcheol-hyung is, but I am grateful to him for taking that life away from me." He continued at a slightly louder volume so his little visitor could hear him above the wind, "But I've been feeling somewhat uneasy around him ever since you guys showed up, maybe it's because of your leader. That's the main reason why I asked you to meet me out here, Junhui-"

"Wonwoo-hyung."

He stopped. That certainly wasn't the right voice. More like, the fact a voice actually came already didn't seem right. Slowly, he turned around, and was met with a figure that he definitely wasn't expecting to see out of all the possible options, not to mention a presence he honestly didn't _want_ to see.

"...Chan, it's late, kids should be asleep."

"They are." Chan replied, stepping off from the center line to stand next to Wonwoo, "So it's time for adults to talk."


	4. It's a Leader Thing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leader-arc, kind of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update! School's started and it's been a lot heavier to handle, but it's almost over now, and I'll be putting this story as first priority in terms of updates.

"You. Are so. Screwed."

That was the first thing Junhui was greeted by when he got back to the bedroom. Here he thought his sneak-away plan had been perfect, or maybe Minghao was just overly sensitive. The younger boy was looking at him with his arms crossed, disapproval written all over his face as he walked closer towards Junhui. Almost instinctively, Junhui stepped backwards, only to find himself backed up against the door as Minghao stared calmly at him.

"Where did you go? And you better tell me honestly." Minghao's voice had the usual softness, but his eyes said otherwise.

And probably for the first time in a long time, Junhui couldn't find himself to form words in front of Minghao. Sure, he found it hard to hold long sentences and conversation with everyone aside from Soonyoung, but he was never barred from at least speaking short sentences to Minghao and Chan.

Junhui stopped his thoughts of the three there. Mingyu's accusation rang loudly at the back of his mind, _'You're in love with Soonyoung-hyung.'_

"Junnie-hyung!" Minghao called, waving a hand in front of him, concern sparking into his eyes at the sudden space-out, "Hey, are you okay-"

"Where's Chan?" Junhui suddenly asked, shoving his own consciousness forward and suddenly feeling very much aware of the fact that only one person's snoring could be heard. He could see Soonyoung's messy hair poking out from under his blanket, so the missing person had to be their youngest.

"Out on one of his night dates with Hansol, I'm sure-"

"I saw Hansol at his dorm..." the faint remembrance of Wonwoo's voice whispering by his ear caused Junhui to freeze up. Didn't that guy mention something about meeting him tonight...? It had totally slipped his mind after Wonwoo let him borrow his key to their dorm. "I don't like this." Almost as quick as he had slipped in, Junhui had slipped out again, not forgetting to grab his coat in the process, of course.

"What do you mean you saw him at his dorm- so that's where you went?! Great, _now_ where are you going?" Minghao continued to gripe as he followed after the older dancer.

"To get Chan! He's not a fighter like us, if he gets targeted..."

Minghao looked at Junhui's nerve-wrecked expression, then behind at Soonyoung, who was still sleeping soundly. It was rare to see Junhui panic, in fact, it was probably the first time he's seen him openly anxious since they've met. Finally, he sighed, untangling his arms to grab his coat.

"All right, but don't think this conversation is over."

* * *

Wonwoo studied Chan's expression calmly. Something was not right. Well, the oddness of their current situation was already proof of that, but the longer Wonwoo allowed the silence to drag on between them, the clearer his suspicions became. This wasn't the same Chan who had been constantly hiding behind his hyungs since day one, nor the sassy maknae who left them all in the dust with his outstandingly precise dance moves. The current Chan was... Well, Wonwoo wasn't quite sure how to make of him. A complete stranger? Not exactly. But it definitely confirmed Wonwoo's uneasiness.

"So, I'm assuming you have something planned to continue this conversation?" Wonwoo began, his voice sounding much steadier than he had imagined, thankfully.

Chan leaned his arm upon the railings in a lazy manner, his hands tucked into his pockets, "I was actually hoping you did."

Wonwoo scowled at the young boy. The sudden change of attitude towards his hyung was honestly starting to get on his nerves. Maybe the humble maknae image was all just an act so that the gang members could get their job done, and now that they only had to wait for the broadcast's results, it was pretty much safe for him to drop it. Then again, Minghao never brought up Chan being the cocky type either. In fact, Chan's image in his stories seemed the same as how he presented himself in public.

"Well, for starters, what is your reason for approaching me? And where's Junhui?"

Wonwoo suddenly felt the urge to put his fists up as Chan's eyes narrowed at his stance, but nonetheless, replied in an almost deadly calm manner, "I've heard stories of you on the streets, but I never realized this was where you were hiding. They've always said that the best hiding spot is out in the open, in clear reach of the public. I would never have guessed that _this_ Jeon Wonwoo was the same as the legendary gangster who single-handedly took out five gangs all by himself."

The rapper's eyes widened from each word that fell out of Chan's mouth, it was getting harder and harder for him to remain composed, but somehow he still managed to give a relatively steady reply, "Well, I'm sorry if you're a 'descendant' of one of the gangs, but I have long retired from the streets-"

"Oh, no," Chan interrupted with a laugh, "revenge is far from what I want from you."

"...Then what is it?" It was still too soon for Wonwoo to relax.

"Wouldn't you like to know? But I suppose the time will come soon."

Before Wonwoo could press on and potentially let his frustration loose, he was interrupted by what sounded like panicked bickering coming from the other side of the bridge. Craning his neck slightly around Chan, he caught sight of a very familiar redhead charging down the streets with a taller, raven haired guy dashing closely behind him. Both appeared to be yelling insults in a foreign language at each other, or at least that was what Wonwoo was assuming from the seemingly angry tone they were using.

Finally, having caught sight of the two figures on the bridge, the redhead came to an abrupt stop, causing his partner to crash into his back, "Chan! Thank goodness you're safe- why are you with Wonwoo-hyung?"

"Chan, get over here." Wonwoo arched an eyebrow at Junhui's new hostile tone. He had thought they were getting along fairly well, but clearly it was only a one-sided thought.

But Wonwoo didn't have to address it, for Minghao turned to snap at Junhui for him, "What is up with your attitude today? It's just Wonwoo-hyung, we know him."

Junhui snorted, "I thought his name sounded familiar. He's _the_ Jeon Wonwoo, notorious even among fellow gangs. It's all clear now."

Minghao scowled, looking from Junhui to Wonwoo uneasily, "There's no way. There is nothing remotely similar between those two aside from their names."

Wonwoo arched an eyebrow at the younger boy. It seemed that Minghao had kept his word about keeping Wonwoo's little show that night a secret from the others. Junhui didn't press on either, but that was mostly because he was more focused on dragging Chan off the bridge and as far away from Wonwoo as possible.

The latter suppressed an eye-roll. If anything, Junhui should be getting away from Chan as far as possible, not the other way around. Before the trio could vanish completely into their territory, Wonwoo was reminded of his original reason for coming out in the first place.

"I wouldn't be too careful among yourselves if I were you."

Minghao paused, ignoring Junhui's hisses that were urging him to ignore Wonwoo and hurry back to the dorm, "What do you mean?"

The idol merely smiled mysteriously as Junhui resorted to dragging Minghao instead.

"It's a leader thing."

* * *

It definitely wasn't the best day for Mingyu. He barely had any sleep last night, not to mention he still had the issue regarding what exactly his relationship with Junhui was. Specifically, was he just playing or not? He wanted to believe that Junhui wasn't the type to say "I love you" easily (or even speak out loud easily), but at the same time, he just wasn't sure what to believe at this stage.

Heck, he couldn't even trust his own leader anymore, whom speaking of which, had been standing at the door for almost an hour. The two of them hadn't talked since the whole "ex-high-school-bully" reveal. Man, Junhui was right, that did sound way too childish to take seriously.

Seungcheol's silence was getting a little too uncomfortable for Mingyu's taste, but he definitely didn't want to be the first to speak. What was he supposed to say anyway? 'You suck as a human being?'

"All right, I know what you're thinking." Seungcheol finally spoke, straightening himself up from the doorway, "You probably don't want to know the reason why I did what I did, and I won't make any excuses for it either. But what's done is done, I can't undo the past."

Mingyu had been planning on following through on his silent treatment towards Seungcheol, but the words automatically fell out, "You don't need to justify yourself to me, hyung." He inwardly cursed himself. Great, the situation just became even more awkward. He needed to escape. Slowly, he got up from the bed and made his way out of the room, trying his best to avoid eye contact, "The person you should be saying that to is Soonyoung-hyung."

On that note, Mingyu did what he did best. He ran away. Much like his last confrontation with Junhui, Seungcheol didn't move or chase after him either. Even though Mingyu was frustrated and shocked by Seungcheol and Soonyoung's past, he couldn't get himself to doubt his leader completely. The bond created from years of training together shouldn't be this easily broken, and Mingyu would really like to believe that the current Seungcheol and the past Seungcheol had completely severed.

So why did he feel betrayed? Maybe it wasn't about Seungcheol being an ex-bully, it was about Junhui again. Mingyu wasn't exactly sure how or in what aspect, but he knew the dancer had something to do with it, and it annoyed him to no end.

Why did everything have to be about friggin' Wen Junhui?

In the midst of his thoughts, Mingyu felt impact near his chest and felt himself getting thrown back a couple of steps. But more importantly, he had to check to see if the person he bumped into was okay.

"Ow! Geez, Mingyu-hyung, a big guy like you shouldn't space out in such a narrow hallway!" His victim joked, rubbing his forehead.

Mingyu breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh, it's just you, Hansol."

"What do you mean _just_ me?"

The cheerful atmosphere of their maknae made Mingyu's tension ebb away, and he felt his shoulders relax at Hansol's carefree reaction. He wondered how it was so easy for him to remain positive even after the brief argument that occurred between him and Chan. Speaking of which, they somehow immediately made up afterwards... Well, Mingyu was going to blame that on young energy.

All of a sudden, a loud crash could be heard from down the hall in the direction where Mingyu literally just came from, followed by yelling that sounded all too familiar to the two rappers as they instinctively raced towards Seungcheol's room.

Once there, they weren't sure whether to laugh or be terrified by the scene in front of them. Soonyoung was balancing himself on a tiny desk that they placed near the window with Junhui desperately trying to hold his leader back with only half of his body indoors, and Mingyu could only hope that the other half was standing on some sort of support, he didn't remember them having a balcony there.

Wait, how the heck did they get in? Did they seriously just break the window?

Alarmed, Mingyu quickly looked towards the floor to see any signs of broken glass, but only saw spilled stationary and scattered books. The window seemed unharmed. There were too many things wrong with this scene, and Mingyu honestly wasn't expecting something so over-the-top even for these guys.

"You!" Soonyoung suddenly ceased his yelling towards Seungcheol and turned towards a very much startled Mingyu, "Let go of me, Junhui, I'm going to beat him up for you-"

"I said it's fine!" Junhui's desperation was evident in his voice, and Mingyu couldn't help but wince when the older boy almost lost his grip on Soonyoung. Whatever he was standing on definitely didn't seem too stable.

"Um, how about we all just have a nice calm talk...?" Mingyu suggested nervously. On one hand, he didn't want to risk getting beaten up, but on the other, he also didn't want Junhui to fall to his death.

"Like hell we are! You think it's fun playing with my friend's feelings?" Soonyoung continued to yell, his hands thrusting forward only inches from Mingyu's face as the latter took a couple steps back.

Suddenly, all sense of worry vanished into thin air as Mingyu glared back at the rampaging hamster, "Me? Playing with him? _He's_ the one who played with _me_! Seungcheol-hyung, beat him up."

"Whoa there, we don't practice violence in our dorm-"

"Ha, that's rich coming from you-"

"Just shut up for once in your life, Kwon Soonyoung!"

"Heyyyyyyy," Hansol finally joined in on the conversation for the first time since they entered the room, "why don't we just talk this out, yeah? We're all going to be in trouble if the manager finds out." Before Soonyoung could retort that they couldn't care less about getting thrown out, Hansol continued, "You guys haven't been paid yet, you really want to throw away all that work for nothing?"

That seemed to shut Soonyoung up, even though Hansol's smug smile obviously annoyed him. The latter had always been one of the few who appeared fearless towards the gangsters from day one, and now he was even able to turn the tables on them. _How frightening kids are,_ was what Mingyu thought.

"All right, so now that we're all _relatively_ calm," Hansol continued, pulling up a couple of cushions for the others to sit on, "Let's talk it out." He waited as Junhui shoved Soonyoung into the room and sat down obediently, all the while still keeping a tight grasp on his leader's wrist just in case he decided it wasn't worth it, even for Chan. Of course, that was doubtful, but _just in case_.

Seungcheol approached the duo with caution while Mingyu followed behind hesitantly. The oldest boy sighed deeply before continuing, "So, what exactly is this about? Breaking into our dorms and such..."

"Yeah, I'll tell you what this is about, it's about you being a shitty person." Soonyoung griped, his eyes glowing like a predator's as he glared across the room at Seungcheol.

"Why bring this up now? I'm sure you recognized me from day one, we could have settled this then." Seungcheol replied calmly, but nonetheless returned Soonyoung's murderous gaze with the most sincere pleading look Mingyu has ever seen from him, "I admit that I was a shitty excuse for a person, and I evidently still am for not coming up to you immediately and apologizing-"

  
"I don't want your fucking apology, this is not about you and your childish tactics of juvenile abuse. This is about your dumbass of a member breaking my best friend's heart-"

"I'm the one who got their heart broken!" Mingyu retorted while still keeping a safe distance from the fuming gangster, "You really want to know what the situation actually is? Your 'best friend' over there is in love with you!" He blurted out, ignoring the heat surrounding his vision as tears began to rise, threatening to spill out any moment, but not before he made his point, "Everything he is now is because of you! The fact that he's roaming the streets, a dancer, selectively mute, everything was because of you! He feels responsible towards you!"

Mingyu was almost scared to receive Soonyoung's reaction, but all the older boy did was direct his glare towards the younger, his voice dangerously calm, "Why would he do that?"

"What-"

Before Mingyu could react, Soonyoung's anger was once again thrown towards Seungcheol, "WHY THE FUCK SHOULD JUNHUI FEEL RESPONSIBLE FOR SOMETHING _YOU_ DID?! AND YOU-" he turned towards Mingyu with equally fiery eyes, "HE IS _NOT_ IN LOVE WITH ME BECAUSE HE'S HEAD-OVER-HEELS FOR _YOU_!" With that, Soonyoung leaned back in his seat and knocked Junhui forward towards the taller boy, "There, now grow a pair for fuck's sake!"

Mingyu looked down at Junhui, who averted his gaze awkwardly, suddenly very interested in the floor's wooden pattern.

"So that's it? You broke into my room just for that?" Seungcheol prompted softly from the side when the room fell into silence.

"No, you fucker, I still want my apology."

"You just said you didn't-"

"Well, now I do." Soonyoung interrupted, crossing his arms and glaring at Seungcheol once more.

Seungcheol took a deep breath, then looked up at Soonyoung with the most sincerest gaze anyone could handle, "I am sincerely sorry for ruining your life, and I won't ask for forgiveness since I know what I did was inexcusable. For all the physical abuse-"

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"What? I'm apologizing for bullying-"

"Who told you to apologize for something juvenile like that?"

Seungcheol scowled, "I, uh, I apologize for dragging Jun into this-"

"WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU APOLOGIZING FOR THAT?!"

"THEN WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO SAY?!"

"WHY THE FUCK DID YOU KISS ME?!"

Seungcheol blinked. Then it dawned on him. He buried his face into his hands as the two younger rappers in the room's eyes grew increasingly larger until they were the size of saucers.

"You did wh-"

"YOU KISSED HIM?!" Mingyu stared at Seungcheol, and then back at Soonyoung, then at Junhui, "But you said... Soonyoung developed a broken mentality because of all the bullying..."

Junhui smiled sheepishly and shrugged as Soonyoung directed his glare at him instead, "What? No, my dad is the leader of the main branch we serve, we're really just a subunit that likes to do individual activities without notice because screw them."

"...So the whole tough guy speech and anger management thing-"

"My dad beat all that into me. Literally. So please, the stuff I got at school was nothing." Soonyoung rolled his eyes, "And Junhui's with us because he's the heir to our branch in China. We played up the role of enemies at school so that no one would suspect us as... business partners."

"You have international branches..." Mingyu shook his head, it was best not to think too much about it. "Er, so, you guys were talking about something... really private?"

"Oh, right, you. Explain yourself." Soonyoung turned his attention back to Seungcheol, crossing his arms once more.

"Come on, it's been years, why are we still bringing it up-" Seungcheol struggled.

"Answer me."

Seungcheol sighed, making uncomfortable wriggles in his seat as he looked at the floor, playing with a loose thread from his cushion as a form of distraction for himself. Under the pressuring gazes of everyone else in the room, he finally spoke, "Well, you know, as they say... young boys like to bully the ones they like... I was jealous of how much of a contrast you were compared to myself. I could never be as bright and cheerful as you, nor was I the outgoing type..."

"Yeah, for the longest time I've been so confused. During the day he'd bully me, get me into detention, but then when everyone left he'd be all nice and stuff, like secretly helping me finish my cleaning-"

"You knew about that?" Seungcheol's face had gone even redder than how it was after Soonyoung's previous outburst.

"Not at first, no, Junhui told me, and I started noticing."

"I guess the takeaway from this whole thing is that... Jun-hyung's a dangerous person." Hansol commented unnecessarily from the side as Mingyu flashed him a glare. The younger merely elbowed him in the ribs with a needless wink.

"But get to the point, _why did you kiss me?_ " Soonyoung pressed, leaning forward in a menacing manner, glaring into Seungcheol's eyes.

"Because I liked you!" Seungcheol finally blurted out, "What other reason was there?!"

"Yeah, thought so." Soonyoung hummed in a satisfied manner, but continued to press forward until their foreheads were touching, "Even I'm not that dense, you know. I just wanted to hear it from your mouth." Contrary to his usual loud and reckless self, the junior gang leader continued to lean forward until his lips brushed ever so gently over Seungcheol's, "Thank you. For liking 'Kwon Soonyoung'."

The idol leader stared as Soonyoung moved away and stood up, "But, it's 'Hoshi' now. So back off. Let's go, Jun."

Junhui gave a final glance towards Mingyu before returning to Soonyoung's side of the room, hopping onto the desk in a featherlight movement, then disappeared out the window along with his leader. Mingyu heard the scurrying of footsteps and looked outside the window to see all four gang members slinking off quietly back to their dorms. So they were using a human pyramid... talk about being reckless.

* * *

_For a while I worked as an informant between gangs. To put it simply, a spy._

Mingyu had received multiple messages from Junhui when he got back from getting lunch with the others, just to cool themselves off and clear their minds from what just happened in Seungcheol's room. He originally hadn't planned on reading them so soon, but he didn't have as much willpower as he thought.

_The real reason why I developed selective mutism is because, well... every time I opened my mouth, someone got hurt._

_But at the same time, words have the mysterious power of making someone happy as well, I learned that when I met you._

Mingyu continued to scroll, ignoring the quickening sound of his heart.

_I remember how delighted you looked and how your eyes sparkled when you managed to get a word from me, it was the most adorable thing. Happiness from the simplest moments._

_I've always tried to avoid words to protect others from getting hurt, but then I realized... from now on, I should start using it for my own happiness._

_For example..._

Mingyu stared blankly at his screen as he continued to scroll downwards, but it appeared to be the last message. Did he have to leave his wifi for whatever reason?

As he continued to fumble with his device, he failed to detect the presence of someone else entering the room until they were standing right behind him, their arms wrapped themselves warmly and securely around Mingyu's waist, and he felt a very familiar warmth breathing dangerously close to his ear.

"I love you."

* * *

While Mingyu and Hansol performed a childish debate in front of Seungcheol regarding whether or not they should get new locks for their room, Jeonghan stopped abruptly in front of the announcement board where Jihoon stood rooted to the spot.

Curious, the second eldest of the group scanned over the notice taped to the whiteboard. After doing so, his eyes widened into the size of saucers, "Soonyoung, what the hell is this?!"

"What?" Slightly disgruntled from having his practice routine interrupted, the gang leader nonetheless trudged over from across the room.

Jeonghan jabbed a finger towards the piece of paper with what appeared to be the CEO's stamp on it. Soonyoung squinted slightly at the printed words, trying to make sense of what was present upon it. But alas, nothing on it made the least bit of sense to him.

"The following individuals are hereby fully employed into Pledis as a reward for returning the CEO's son - Wen Junhui, Kwon Soonyoung, Xu Minghao... hold up, what? Who the fuck is this 'CEO's son' and what did we ever do to him?"

"Oh, that would be me."

Soonyoung, Jeonghan, and Jihoon simultaneously whipped their heads around to see a very much sheepish looking Chan. The maknae rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly with a lopsided smile on his face.


	5. The Not-So-Grand Finale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> High cringe material ahead.

The day of the broadcast was finally here, which would ultimately seal their fates. Or at least for the gang members. Even though the CEO had generously offered them a permanent place in the company, Minghao had _politely_ declined for them under Soonyoung's orders. Meanwhile, Junhui had been glaring holes into Chan's back, but whenever the latter turned around the older would simply smile in a sickly sweet manner before returning to his glaring. Of course, since it was Junhui, Chan was positive that he was just playing. His reaction was the least worrisome out of everyone.

No one pressed for an explanation- well, that was a lie, that was practically the first thing Jihoon and Soonyoung demanded from him, but at least no one was pressing _now_.

"He'll tell us when he's ready." Minghao had said to a fuming Soonyoung.

Surprisingly, his leader conceded. The idol members didn't press the matter further either, thanks to Seungcheol's crowd control. Even though there must be a lot they wanted to hear from him. Things like, will he leave the gang? Why did he bring the gang here in the first place? Why was he even in the gang?

"Trust me, it'd be so long of a story I'd have great-grandkids by the time I'm done with it." Was Chan's initial reply to every question thrown his way. As for the matter regarding whether he'd leave the gang or not, that was a solid "No." But the question was whether his gang would still have him, knowing his true identity and the fact that he had put on such an elaborate show just to get them here for a currently unknown reason.

For now, there was peace. Maybe it was the snow, the elaborate decorations both outside and inside the dorms, the sound of caroling coming from down the street, or maybe all of the above; but the atmosphere indoors felt oddly jolly, warm, and relaxing. Aside from a certain corner where Junhui was bustling around with a large box of mistletoe.

Raising an eyebrow, Chan began to tag behind the busy June bug. The older dancer appeared to be sticking mistletoe literally everywhere. Every room had _at least_ one, and he even went as far as to stick one on each corner of the coffee table located in the living room. Chan had to wonder in what circumstance would two people be caught underneath those... not unless it were an extremely specific situation, like accidentally tumbling off the sofa, or rolling on the floor for whatever reason- no, that actually sounds like something that would happen among these thirteen oversized kids.

"Jun-hyung, what exactly are you doing?" Chan finally made his presence known as Junhui climbed onto a sofa arm to put up an entire clump of mistletoe on a chandelier.

"Extra luck. We're all going to be gathered here later to watch the broadcast, right?" Junhui replied, balancing himself on the narrow makeshift stool.

Chan couldn't help but wince as Junhui reached out to grab a chandelier that was located just a little far from where he was standing, "Do you want me to get you an actual chair to stand on?"

"No, I've got this- woah!"

Before Chan could react and potentially get squashed under the much taller boy, a much sturdier pair of arms had made their way around Junhui's waist, lifting him entirely off the sofa arm. "Phew, thank god you're here, Mingyu-hyung..." Chan's relieved sigh trailed off as the claimed "visual tree" stared down at the mistletoe fairy in his arms, Junhui in turn was blinking up at Mingyu expectantly, the box of mistletoe still in his hands.

Chan wondered if he should just leave, but Mingyu broke the pink bubbly atmosphere by practically tossing Junhui onto the sofa, then bolting out the room. The older boy was obviously not amused, a slight pout on his face. "He's so dense."

"Er, Mingyu-hyung's just shy, I'm sure." Chan said, a futile attempt to clear away the metaphorical dark cloud hovering over Junhui's head.

"He was the one who kept chasing after me in the beginning, so why is he running away now?" Junhui mumbled, gathering up a couple of scattered mistletoe and putting the entire box away into the storage closet, "Maybe I don't match his original image of me...?"

Chan walked over to the sulking dancer, placing a hand on his shoulder, "Hyung, I've seen a lot of people run away after knowing your true nature-" he ignored the 'and-how-is-that-supposed-to-cheer-me-up' glare from Junhui, "but it's different for Mingyu-hyung. You saw how he rushed in from the other room to catch you, and I'm sure he was keeping an eye on you from the beginning to have such great timing."

Junhui sighed, ruffling Chan's hair adoringly, "Our maknae is the sweetest~"

 _'Our maknae'._ Chan noted to himself. He wondered how long that title was going to stick after tonight.

* * *

After all the preparations were made for the members' utmost viewing comfort, Seungkwan and Seokmin called everyone into the living room, blatantly ignoring the fact that it had become a mistletoe jungle thanks to a certain June bug. Minghao watched as the boys tried to cram themselves onto one couch, some of the less lucky ones just had to settle for the floor. Eventually, most of the members were kicked off except for Jeonghan, Jihoon, and Chan. There was no question as to how Jeonghan and Jihoon secured their spots, and Chan was granted special privilege by Jeonghan, who had self-identified himself as the kid's parent.

Just as Minghao was pondering where a certain rapper could be, he heard a very much distinguishable voice coming from the outside, "Mingyu, what are you doing? We're all waiting for you."

"Aw, Hyung, you guys are waiting just for me?" Minghao could hear the feigned cheerfulness in Mingyu's voice and looked towards Junhui, who was standing behind the couch, his eyes glued to the screen as the show started. He had thought that things were going well between the two, and wondered how anything could have possibly happened during the short time he had been distracted from keeping Junhui in line.

"Duh, you have the popcorn." Wonwoo replied in a cold tone, taking the bowl from Mingyu's hands and dragging the younger rapper into the room. Minghao watched as Wonwoo practically shoved Mingyu towards Junhui, causing the two tallest boys in the room to crash into each other's shoulders, they met each other's eyes briefly, then awkwardly inched away slightly from one another.

 _Yeah, something's definitely off._ Minghao thought, but was then distracted by the cheering coming from the others when their turn came up. Wonwoo had plopped himself down next to Minghao and appeared to be focused on monitoring the performance as well.

But halfway through... "I'm Jeon Wonwoo."

Minghao turned to look at the older boy next to him, eyebrows arched in confusion. Was he so nervous that he had to remind himself what his name was? "Hyung, are you okay?"

Wonwoo let out a soft chuckle and shook his head, "The infamous gangster that you were all so wary about, that's me. Well, was." He turned to face Minghao straight on, his firm gaze boring into the younger's, "Believe me when I say that I've changed. I don't care about what others may think, but... I just want _you_ to believe me."

The younger found himself practically drowning in Wonwoo's eyes, he tried to speak, but all he managed to do was swallow a mouthful of saliva before feeling his throat run dry yet again. How absolutely elegant. Finally, he managed to force words out, "I know. How can I doubt the person who rescued helpless ol' me?" Minghao smiled, nudging Wonwoo's shoulder playfully, "I understand. Everyone has secrets they'd like to hide, such is the way of the streets."

"You really want to talk gangster with me?" Wonwoo raised his eyebrows, but an amused smirk played on his lips.

Minghao simply laughed and hooked an arm around Wonwoo's, tugging the older closer, "Let's start over then. I'm Xu Minghao."

Wonwoo's teasing smirk had softened into a gentle smile as he closed the remaining distance himself, bringing Minghao close to his side until their shoulders were touching, "Jeon Wonwoo."

* * *

 

Through the middle of the broadcast, Seungcheol had excused himself to get water, he definitely wasn't expecting Soonyoung to follow behind him. He thought their last conversation had made their relationship clear once and for all, and Soonyoung had straightforwardly declared that he wanted nothing to do with him from there on.

So there they were, facing each other in the kitchen. Seungcheol was leaning against the sink with a glass of water in hand while Soonyoung blocked the doorway, fuming.

"Well?"

"Well what?" Seungcheol blinked, watching as Soonyoung's eyes widened even more, fire practically bursting out of his eyes.

"Don't you have anything to say to me?"

Seungcheol slowly tilted his head to the side, "I think you've made things very clear between us. Don't worry, I won't bother you anymore. It was, like you said, just a stupid high school crush," Soonyoung opened his mouth to speak, but Seungcheol continued, "Not to mention we're from completely different worlds. You're an heir to some big name gang, while I'm the leader of the one rising hope from a rundown company, I guess our people just don't mix," looking straight into Soonyoung's eyes, Seungcheol delivered the final blow, "We should never have met."

Soonyoung was silent for a while but didn't budge from his position, so Seungcheol took the opportunity to drink from his glass.

"Is it because of Jihoon?"

Seungcheol choked.

"It's because of Jihoon."

"No- hold up- what does this have to do with Jihoon?" Seungcheol spluttered, knocking a fist repeatedly against his chest to cough out the last of the water.

Soonyoung had turned his face away slightly, arms still crossed over his chest, but Seungcheol could see just a faint pout from is side profile, "You know... we kind of look alike, except he's much cuter and more mature..."

"You do hear how ironic that sounds, right?" Seungcheol tried to interrupt, but Soonyoung wasn't done rambling.

"He's like... me 2.0, of course you'd fall for him..." Soonyoung grumbled, turning away further.

Seungcheol tried hard not to just burst out laughing right then and there, it would seem too cruel since Soonyoung was practically pouring his heart out here regarding his worries. Instead, Seungcheol put down the glass of water and walked towards Soonyoung, hooking an arm around his waist and pressing his lips against the younger's shoulder softly and briefly, "You're jealous."

"I-I'm not jealous! I told you, I'm not the same as before-"

"Exactly, so why would I fall for someone who's basically a copy of the current you?"

"...Oh." Soonyoung's shoulders had fallen slightly in obvious disappointment at the thought that he had become too far gone to be Seungcheol's type. What was he even expecting?

Meanwhile, Seungcheol was having a hard time stopping himself from shaking with laughter at how easy it was to read Soonyoung's actions. "Do you want to know what my ideal type is?"

Soonyoung looked as though he were fighting with himself. He didn't want to give into Seungcheol that easily, but curiosity was getting the best of him. Slowly, he nodded.

"My ideal type," Seungcheol began dramatically, making sure his arm was still securely around Soonyoung while the other hand played with a stray strand of blonde hair, "Is someone who is cheerful, bright, the life of the party, makes everyone around them smile," as expected, the boy in his arms began to struggle, but Seungcheol's strength was not something to make little of, "My ideal type is Kwon Soonyoung."

"...I'm not cheerful-" Soonyoung began, but had at least stopped struggling.

"I know."

"I'm not bright-"

"I know."

"I create tears more than smiles-"

"I know. But you're still Kwon Soonyoung." Seungcheol's voice was gentle, speaking every word clearly in Soonyoung's ear. They lost their chance last time because of misunderstandings, there was no more room for those this time.

The younger didn't say anything, but Seungcheol could hear faint sniffles coming from below him. He turned the dancer around, an arm still wrapped securely around him, of course.

"D-don't look at me-"

As for the next moment, it should be what everyone expected. Seungcheol had drowned out whatever lame excuse Soonyoung was about to come up with. Their second first kiss. It was even less romantic than their first, with Soonyoung growing so emotional that he started hiccuping into the kiss and Seungcheol shaking from suppressed laughter.

Yet it was _their_ kiss.

* * *

 

"GODDAMNIT WEN JUNHUI JUST DRINK THE BLOODY COFFEE!"

"NEVER!"

Mingyu glared at Junhui from across the table, the cup of coffee in question sat innocently in the middle of the table between them. As for how they went from awkwardly floating around each other to this state, it was actually a very simple story.

Most of the members were falling asleep so Mingyu decided to make coffee for the whole group. But Junhui was being oddly stubborn and refused to accept the drink that Mingyu had especially brewed for him. Well, for all of them, but still. Then for some reason Mingyu took it on a completely personal level and soon they ended up in this cat-and-mouse game.

The two continued to glare at each other from across the table, a battle of endurance. Eventually, Mingyu gave in, "Fine, let's be honest, we both know this isn't about the coffee."

"What are you talking about? Everything's about the coffee."

"Okay, now you're just being childish." Mingyu rolled his eyes as Junhui huffed and turned away, an immature pout on his face, "Hyung, what is it? You've been avoiding me for a while."

Junhui didn't reply. He refused to. Besides, shouldn't it be the other way around?

"...Is it about the mistletoe?" Mingyu asked carefully, shifting his position so that he could read Junhui's expression better. Unfortunately, Junhui caught what he was trying to do and shifted so that his back was towards the younger again, "Come on, if you don't say something I won't understand..."

At that, the older's shoulders visibly tensed. Maybe that was why. Maybe Mingyu was growing tired of Junhui being emotionally crippled, maybe he was just too hard to understand. He had thought he was getting better, but maybe it just wasn't enough-

"Wen Junhui." Mingyu's voice suddenly became oddly close, but before Junhui could react, he found himself trapped in a vulnerable position between the wall and the man he had been trying so hard to avoid as some form of revenge, "...So you can't talk to me anymore?"

Junhui felt his mouth run dry. Mingyu looked and sounded like he was in pain, and it was all his fault. He lowered his gaze, but Mingyu grabbed his chin and tilted it upwards in almost a rough manner so that they were forced to face each other again.

" _Can't_ or _won't_? Either way I won't allow it."

The dancer felt a shiver run up his spine. Where did the usual airhead of a puppy go? He opened his mouth, but then swallowed whatever words were going to come out. He felt the familiar sense of anxiety take over.

"Hyung..." Noticing the originally defiant gaze switch to anxiousness, Mingyu's tone softened, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it..." leaning down, he placed a gentle kiss on Junhui's forehead, "I just... love you so much," he gave a soft peck on the lips, "I want to hear your voice more," a kiss on the nose, "but you've been wasting your precious words on others lately..." a kiss on the chin, "I was jealous..."

"Mingyu- ungh!" Junhui gasped as Mingyu bit down harshly on his neck, a very particular location that the latter knew too well was a certain someone's favorite spot, "O-okay, I get it, let's talk this out- ohmygodnotthereanywherebutthere-"

"Are you sure, Hyung? You look like you can barely keep yourself together though." Mingyu licked the bite mark lovingly, a complete contrast to his previous roughness, "As I thought, this is the most effective way for me to hear your voice."

Junhui felt himself go limp in Mingyu's arms, and simply allowed the younger to literally sweep him off his feet.

Later on, when all had been said and done, Junhui leaned against Mingyu's chest comfortably, a table cloth wrapped around them. Seungcheol and Soonyoung were going to get a nasty surprise once they were done with whatever they were doing in the kitchen, but for now they weren't in a hurry to collect themselves.

"Hey, Mingyu."

"Hm?" Mingyu slurred, grazing his teeth lightly over Junhui's still very much burning ear.

The older pointed above them. Mistletoe.

Junhui laughed at Mingyu's puzzled expression, burying his face into the crook of his lover's neck, "I win."

* * *

 

After Junhui and Mingyu had chased each other out of the room, Chan had excused himself as well, walking onto the balcony. There was no doubt anymore. He didn't need to watch the full show to know that they had nailed it. Tomorrow the gang will be packing their bags and leaving, fully paid; the idols will be going back to their original lives like nothing ever happened; and he... well, he wasn't sure.

He heard a soft cough behind him and turned to see Hansol, leaning against the sliding doors with a lopsided smile on his face, "Mind if I join you?"

Chan rolled his eyes at the mock formality, but inched slightly to the side to make room for him. The two of them simply stood in silence, side-by-side, against the railings. It wasn't awkward, but it also wasn't the most comfortable situation.

"...So, the CEO's son, huh?" Hansol's smile didn't waver as he looked at him, "What's a kid of your caliber still hanging out with me for?"

"Are we really going there?" Chan rolled his eyes again, punching his boyfriend lightly in the shoulder, "Hey, I'm still me."

"Yup, you sure hit like you." Hansol teased, then quickly hopped away as Chan attempted to kick him.

They chased each other around in circles for a bit on the balcony until they were both running out of breath, mostly from laughing. Chan sat down, and Hansol took a seat next to him. Gently, Chan allowed himself to lean against Hansol's shoulder, not minding the sweat that was pouring down both of their necks.

But peace never lasted as long as you wanted it to.

"What are you going to do from here on? Are you staying?" Hansol asked, a little too obviously hopeful.

"...I don't know." Chan cuddled closer to the older boy, allowing him to rub soothing circles into his back, "To tell the truth, it all started when my dad and I made a bet. He never believed in me, and he was actually considering adopting some kid as his heir. Can you believe it?" He let out a dry laugh, "So I made a bet with him. I told him if I could scout out dancers who were of better value than the ones he had scouted and trained, I will be his one and only heir, and if I don't, well, I'll go live on the streets." Chan shrugged, letting out a cheeky smile, "Either way I ended up living on the streets for a little bit, but I would call myself lucky. Since my dad tried to employ the guys permanently, I'd say I've won. But now..."

"You don't want to come back." Hansol finished quietly, his hand had slipped off Chan's back.

"It's not that I don't _want_ to," Chan quickly said, "It's just... Instead of my dad, I feel like those guys need me more, you know?"

Hansol pondered for a minute, "What if your members decide to stay with us? They each have their own reason to, I'm sure."

"Of course they do..." Chan cringed at the remembrance of all the pink bubbles he had to endure throughout their stay with the band, "But they're not that easy to contain."

"Hey, I get it," Hansol smiled gently, bringing Chan's face closer and planting a kiss on the younger's forehead, "You're not looking for someone to contain you, you're looking for someone to _match_ you."

Reaching up, Chan pulled Hansol into a tight hug and tried not to let his voice tremble, "...Thank you, Hansol, for everything." He paused, biting his bottom lip slightly so that the tears wouldn't fall, "I love you."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY'RE DATING?!" A yell suddenly erupted from inside.

"You didn't know?"

"Jun, put some clothes on before talking to me, please. Seungcheol, get your maknae off my maknae."

"Aw, but, Honey, young love is beautiful."

"...Did he just-"

"ALL OF YOU GET OUT!"

* * *

Chan felt like he could finally breath again, in a sense, as he walked out of the dorm building, a suitcase dragging behind him. The other three filed out as well, calling over each other's shoulders and making sure they remembered to clear out everything.

"I'm going to miss this place, it was nice having a roof over our heads for a while." Junhui commented, shaking his head in mock sadness.

"Even though you spent most of your nights somewhere else..." Minghao scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"...Hey, do you even remember having this much stuff when we first moved in?" Soonyoung noted, nudging the bulging bags of luggage by the stairs with his foot, ignoring his members' squabbling completely. Just another normal day, that's all. Although it's been a while since they've gathered like this, just the four of them. It felt oddly lonely... but Soonyoung wasn't about to admit it.

"Yeah, most of the stuff was given by those guys, right?" Chan said, remembering how Hansol had practically stuffed his entire stash of snacks into his suitcase, Mingyu attempted to give them their entire fridge, and Seungkwan even suggested giving their beds away.

Minghao chuckled in amusement at the memory, "They do realize that we won't be able to use most of these where we're going, right?" He said, indicating towards a giant rice cooker as an example.

"Also, we're a street gang, not homeless. Well, not really." Soonyoung shrugged as the group made their way outside the gate, locking the doors for the last time behind them.

The bars were gone, and they no longer needed to stick to a strict schedule to match the idols'. They smiled at each other. Freedom.

"All right. Let's go home."

 _'Home'._ Chan repeated to himself. It was probably simple for most people, but it meant a lot of things at the same time. Recently he had adopted the idea that 'home' was where a certain someone was. And he knew he would be waiting for his return.

Seungcheol had asked, "Do you guys really have to leave?" While looking at Soonyoung with puppy eyes, but of course their leader wasn't having it. Did Soonyoung feel the least bit of regret? Maybe, but there was no way for Chan to know. All he knew for sure, was that Soonyoung was smiling like his old cheerful self, all the while securely wrapped in Seungcheol's arms.

Then there was Mingyu. If Jihoon hadn't stepped in in time, Chan was positive that he might have just kidnapped Junhui to prevent him from leaving. On the other hand, Junhui had played the mature role and was calm about the whole situation, calming his lover down, assuring him that he'd sneak in from time to time. But Chan knew him long enough by now to distinguish between a genuine calm Junhui and a lying-his-ass-off-with-a-smile-on-his-face Junhui.

Wonwoo was definitely not as clingy as his fellow band mates, but that wasn't to say he didn't try to change their minds. It came as a shock to both sides, but he wasn't pushy about it either. "See you soon." He had said to Minghao, squeezing his hand gently before officially sending them off.

Love came in many different forms, expressed in different ways, shared through different experiences. But at the end of the day, they could feel it, even for just a brief time, they were loved.

Even now, the four of them still had each other. It was just the same as always, nothing's changed.

* * *

Almost a month had passed, and the four had decided to drop by their usual dance arena, like any other day. Of course, they had to endure a certain amount of ridicule by the other groups for working with an idol group, but that was quickly shut down. Nothing they couldn't handle on their own. Independence. Something they took pride in.

They had planned to meet outside, but when Chan got there, none of the other three were in sight. He wondered if they had gotten tired of waiting and headed inside first. Dialing Soonyoung's phone, Chan began pacing around outside the entrance.

"Hello?"

"Hoshi-hyung, where are you guys?"

"Oh, Dino, about time! We're- get off me! Give me the phone, I'm warning you- SEUNG-"

Chan blinked in bewilderment as Soonyoung hung up on him. It sounded like he was forced to... _Don't tell me he got himself into a fight already...?_ Chan thought tiredly, hoping that either Minghao or Junhui was at least with him.

He dialed Minghao's number.

"The8-hyung, are you with Hoshi-hyung?"

"Hm? Yup, it's all good!"

"Okay, cool, where are you-"

"Hold on, Dino, I need to show this guy who's boss. Today will be your death day, Jeon-"

And poor Chan was once again hung up on. Of course, there was no distracting Minghao once he got into the zone. He usually played the cute lamb on the team but when he got onto the dance floor... oh boy.

He dialed Junhui's number.

"H-hello?"

Chan paused, this hyung sounded oddly flustered and breathless. Did he overexert himself already? Well, he wasn't the best at endurance out of all of them, if Chan was being honest... "Hey, Jun-hyung, where-"

He stopped. Something was definitely wrong with this line as well, because for the next two minutes Chan had bothered to stay on, he heard a clattering sound followed by incoherent noises and two voices. One appeared to be demanding something, while the other (which sounded strangely like Junhui) was crying out a name over and over.

So Chan thought that it'd be best to hang up by then. He was left staring at his phone. Now what?

"Hey."

He physically jumped. The familiar greeting, familiar tone, oh god, familiar _face_... "Hansol, w-what are you...?"

"You saw my world, I'm here to see yours." Hansol smiled, his goddamn lopsided smile.

"I will show you if you promise to ditch those cheesy lines." Chan replied, fighting the urge to latch onto the man and never let go.

Hansol laughed, looping an arm around Chan and pulling him close in one smooth move, "No can do. I haven't seen my boyfriend in a month and you're telling me to tone it down?"

"Ugh, geez..." Chan grumbled, but couldn't help thinking that he was in a better situation than the others, at least. Or from what he could discern from each call.

"Come on." Hansol tugged on Chan's hand, pulling him along to... wait, where was he even taking him? They seemed to be heading in the opposite direction from the arena.

"Uh, Hansol? Where are we going?" The younger called, but nonetheless picked up the pace to match his boyfriend's.

Hansol merely flashed his signature lopsided smile as he looked back at Chan.

_"Home."_

* * *

**[epilogue that shouldn't be taken seriously]**

"And that was how our maknae was kidnapped by the evil idols." Soonyoung finished, flashing a grudging look at Seungcheol.

"It was a snatch one get three free deal." Seungcheol added, smoothing out Soonyoung's ruffled hair that had been dyed back to black.

"...Just to clarify, I was the last one to be 'snatched'..." Chan spoke from his unconvincing position on Hansol's lap.

"Don't look at me, I was just there to bring back what's mine." Hansol shrugged.

"JUN-HYUNG I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU SOLD OUT YOUR BODY THAT EASILY!" Minghao fake sobbed, completely ignoring the fact that they were on live camera.

"Hey! I don't just sell out myself to anyone, only to- to..." Junhui trailed off, his ears growing red as his gaze met with a certain someone from the other end of the line.

"You have to excuse our Jun, he's very shy." Wonwoo quickly said, attempting to change the topic.

"HAH, that's the best one you've told yet!" Minghao laughed, slapping his thigh exaggeratedly, "You heard them last night-"

"And that was the exclusive interview of how SEVENTEEN's final lineup came to be! Good night, everybody!" Seungkwan cut in, attempting to turn off the app.

"Yes, please have a better night than I did, I swear to god if I hear them again tonight I will not hesitate to pull out some teeth..." Minghao continued to grumble as Seungkwan fumbled with the device.

Chan and Hansol exchanged a glance with each other.

_I think they're getting worse..._

 

**Author's Note:**

> Admittedly this concept is a very odd choice for a Christmas special, but it's my own sort of "countdown" thing, I guess.


End file.
